Tim Banting
Unified communications is a quietly changing category. Not because calling or meetings got better, but because AI has turned everyday conversations into persistent corporate records – recorded, transcribed, summarized, stored, and scrutinised.
That single shift is why so many enterprises are now revisiting UC decisions made in the pandemic rush. What felt like a tactical deployment has become a governed system with real downside risk – including fines when you “don’t toe the line”.
UC is now a compliance surface area, not a feature set
Most UC evaluation still starts with channels, usability, and integrations.
In 2026, the first question should be: what risk profile does this platform create once AI is switched on by default? The moment calls and collaboration sessions become searchable artefacts, your obligations change – retention, auditability, access control, eDiscovery readiness, and policy enforcement stop being “nice-to-haves” and become procurement blockers.
That’s why buyers are pulling more stakeholders into decisions: regulatory pressure means legal, compliance, HR, and risk need to be in the room early, not after vendor shortlists are built.
Read more:
- Building a Communication Fabric That Works For Your Enterprise
- From Silos to Synergy: Inside the Shift to Unified Engagement Platforms
The “deliberate assessment” playbook for 2026
I’d encourage buying committees to treat UC modernization as a governance program with three workstreams:
- Lifecycle and exposure audit – Map end-of-support and operational dependencies. Many environments are being revisited by IT leaders precisely because legacy models are reaching end-of-life.
- Records governance by design – Define what gets recorded, where it’s stored, who can access it, and how it’s deleted. “Nothing was recorded” is no longer true – and that gap is where risk lives.
- Operational safety and observability – Prioritize admin controls, monitoring, and policy enforcement. Vendors doing the “unglamorous work” here will earn long-term trust – flashy features won’t.
Procurement needs a new success metric: adoption with accountability
One final reality: UC choices are increasingly made by committee because the business owns adoption, not IT. If the platform isn’t used, the ROI never shows up.
In 2026, the most credible UC strategies will link governance readiness to measurable utilization outcomes – and treat AI-enabled communications as an enterprise control system, not a productivity toy.
Next steps? Ask whether your current UC estate is a set of tools – or a set of liabilities. The answer will tell you how urgent your next cycle really is.
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